Amberlee UX, Interaction & product designer
About Me
Geologist turned Designer?
Journey to Today
NASA Ames Research Center: Mountain View, California
My dream of working for NASA came true when I landed my first job as a Production Assistant for educational multimedia as part of the Ames Educational Technology Team. It was during my tenure that I went to design school and grounded myself in design fundamentals, theory and practical applications of design. Through our collaborative design sessions at NASA, I learned the elements and process for creating a full-fledged interactive product--educational benchmarks, establishing requirements, brainstorming, interaction flow, information architecture, and observational testing of our prototypes with end users.
Freelance: San Francisco Bay Area & Silicon Valley
I credit my many years of freelance for making me a well-rounded designer. I was exposed to a variety of industries, company structures and diverse assignments from print, interactive, web design, marketing and product development.
LinkedIn: Mountain View, California
In the heart of the silicon valley, my year at LinkedIn was one heck of a ride (It was the year the company went public) ! It was my first foray into product development since my NASA multimedia days and allowed me to gain deep knowledge and understanding of software development in the Agile/Scrum framework.
Newly East-Coaster (2013)
Who moves clear across the country? This gal! Somehow my family all ended up on this coast and after years of only seeing them once or twice a year, I made the leap to continue my journey in Boston.
I've spent my time here at startup, matchbox (college admission app) and uber-secure collaboration software company, Intralinks. I've enjoyed getting to know "Silicon Alley" innovation and my share of beautiful Maine beaches and lobster rolls.
A Path of No Regrets
My Design & Work Beliefs
- Design should make interaction intuitive and easy
- Products should have a clear hierarchy of information and clear calls to action
- Information is most helpful in context, when users need it
- Look for opportunities to dissolve complexity
- Always be open to diverse viewpoints and strive to keep improving
- Adopt processes that increase transparency and efficiency
- Adequate preparation and organization make collaboration more effective and meaningful
My Career Goals
- Showcase my leadership and product strategy within a design role
- Explore mobile use cases and designing for those scenarios
- Seek team/project leadership through servant-leadership and coaching methodologies
- Play an active role in product strategy, roadmaps and how to consistently add both business and user value
- Employ creativity, innovation and collaboration to formulate great products
- Utilize technology to solve difficult problems
- Always pursue work that is meaningful
- Continually add value and improve the lives of ourselves, our community and the world
What I'm Looking for in a Company
- Company: Pushing the creative and technological envelope; grounded in business strategy; "flat" org structure
- Size: Startup or small/medium-size company; ideally 30-500 people
- Values: Design-focused or understands the value of design; Innovation; Collaboration
- Culture: empowering, transparent, focused, always improving, friendly
- Location: Boston area; San Francisco Bay Area/ Silicon Valley or Remote
- Markets: Green/Eco (tech, building, energy, consumer, etc.); Technology; Mobile; Collaboration; Internet of Things; Design/Creative; Home & Garden; Education; Social Media; Alternative Medicine
My Strengths
Based on Strength Finders 2.0 assessment
- Learner: have a great desire to learn and want to continuously improve.
- Relator: find deep satisfaction in working hard with close relationships to achieve a goal.
- Restorative: adept at dealing with problems. They are good at figuring out what is wrong and resolving it.
- Achiever: have a great deal of stamina and work hard. They take great satisfaction from being busy and productive.
- Connectedness: have faith in the links between all things...believe every event has a reason.
Given the opportunity, I dive right into projects and tenaciously learn all I can--quickly bringing myself up to speed. I strive to gain a deep understanding of the project/process/challenge so that I can thoughtfully problem-solve, add value and accelerate a project forward.
In My Spare Time ...
- Argentine Tanguera
- Volunteer/ Philanthropist
- Entrepreneur
- Eco Greenie
- Hiking, gardening, being outdoors
- Lover or sparkly objects
- Exploring different languages, food and cultures
- Being silly and goofy